7. College of Fine Arts

General Information

History and Mission

The College of Fine Arts was established by the state legislature in 1937; in the decades since then, the college has grown with the University to become a leading center for arts study. Both students and faculty members of the College of Fine Arts have regularly received national and international recognition for their achievements; such recognition indicates the degree of academic and artistic excellence to which the college is dedicated.

The College of Fine Arts strives to prepare students for the practice, study, criticism, and teaching of the arts; to lead in developing the arts through research and the creation of new works; and to provide performances and exhibitions that deepen the understanding of the arts, expand audiences, and develop a better quality of life in the University, community, state, and nation. The college prepares students and audiences for the coming decades by emphasizing cultural diversity and technological advancement and by exploring the interrelationships among all the arts.

Facilities

The Office of the Dean of the College of Fine Arts is located in the E. William Doty Fine Arts Building, at the corner of 23rd and Trinity streets. General inquiries about the college should be directed to this office. The mailing address is The University of Texas at Austin, Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts, 1 University Station D1400, Austin TX 78712.

Within the college are three academic units—the Department of Art and Art History, the School of Music, and the Department of Theatre and Dance. Inquiries about a particular unit should be directed to that unit.

Other components of the College of Fine Arts include the Performing Arts Center and the Blanton Museum of Art. These components provide University students and the Austin community with the opportunity to attend art exhibitions, plays, operas, ballets, recitals, and concerts by internationally renowned artists and companies. The proximity of Austin to Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Fort Worth places the major art collections and dramatic and musical events of those cities within a few hours' drive.

Blanton Museum of Art

A new facility for the Blanton Museum of Art is currently under construction. A new gallery building, which houses the permanent collection, opened in April, 2006. The entire museum complex, including an education, visitor services, and administration building, as well as a public plaza, is expected to be completed in 2007. The Blanton will be the largest university museum in the country and the third largest museum in Texas. Founded in 1963, the Blanton is an important center for scholarship, research, and professional training in the visual arts. Students have opportunities to gain firsthand experience in academic and museum careers through formal internships and work with curators and faculty members on exhibitions, educational programs, and conservation activities.

The museum's permanent collection includes more than seventeen thousand works of art, including the Suida-Manning Collection of Renaissance and Baroque Art, the Mari and James A. Michener Collection of Twentieth-Century American Art, the C. R. Smith Collection of Art of the American West, and the Contemporary Latin American Art Collection. Holdings of prints and drawings, available for study, consist of more than ten thousand works on paper dating from the fifteenth century to the present. The museum also includes a collection of antiquities from Greece and Rome. The William J. Battle Collection of Plaster Casts features life-size cast replicas of the great masterpieces of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.

Computer Facilities

In addition to the computer facilities available to all students at the University, the College of Fine Arts maintains facilities with special hardware and software for its own undergraduate and graduate majors. These include a central computer laboratory and learning resource center located in the Fine Arts Library, computer laboratories and media-enhanced classrooms in each of the three academic units, and extensive wireless Internet coverage throughout the college. Information regarding currently available technology and support can be found on the College of Fine Arts Web site.

Because of the rapidly growing importance of computers in College of Fine Arts curricula, students are strongly encouraged to come to the University with their own computers. Contact the area of academic interest for more information.

Fine Arts Library

Located in the E. William Doty Fine Arts Building, the Fine Arts Library contains materials on art, theatre, dance, and music.

The art collection supports instruction and research for the four divisions of the Department of Art and Art History: art history, design, studio art, and visual art studies. The collection includes materials on most art and design movements and schools, photography, and art education. Artists of most periods and nationalities and studies of their work are represented, as are most media and techniques.

The theatre and dance collection supports the Department of Theatre and Dance, and includes materials on performance, especially play production, theatrical design, playwriting, theatre education, and dance. Materials on other types of theatrical presentations, such as magic, circuses, and pantomime, are also included. The Fine Arts Library holds texts of major plays written in English or translated into English, with contemporary plays collected most heavily. The Perry-Castañeda Library also holds texts of plays in English and other languages, with emphasis on plays as a literary form and on literary criticism.

The music collection supports instruction and research in the School of Music, which includes performance, composition, music theory, and music studies. Most historical periods and geographical areas are covered in both classical and popular idioms, though the emphasis is on the Western classical tradition. Music is represented in a wide variety of printed and recorded formats.

Fine Arts Library services include reference and research assistance, instruction, circulation and reserves, and media and technology support. The Fine Arts Library is wireless and offers a broad range of media equipment and computing hardware and software to support the study of the fine arts.

Study Abroad

The University offers many opportunities for students to study abroad. Among these is the Learning Tuscany program. This program is taught by University faculty members at the Santa Chiara Study Center in Castiglion Fiorentino, near Florence. For more information, contact the undergraduate advising office in the Department of Art and Art History.

The School of Music offers an opera program in Salzburg, Austria. For more information, contact the undergraduate advising office in the School of Music.

Another international opportunity is the Institute for Digital Performing Arts program, which is taught in Costa Rica during the summer. For more information, contact the undergraduate advising office in the Department of Theatre and Dance.

Financial Assistance Available through the College of Fine Arts

Students in the College of Fine Arts are eligible for a variety of scholarships and awards. Most scholarship aid in the college is offered through the academic units (art and art history, music, and theatre and dance). For information about scholarship application procedures and deadlines, the student should contact the academic unit of interest.

Student Services and Academic Advising

Office of the Dean

In the College of Fine Arts, the Office of the Dean offers a variety of student services, including general academic advising, maintenance of student records, evaluation of the student's academic standing and progress toward a degree, and information about programs to study abroad. The student should contact the Office of the Dean for answers to questions about degree requirements or other College of Fine Arts or University policies and regulations. This office is also a good source of general information and referral.

Departmental Advising

Each academic unit in the college (art and art history, music, and theatre and dance) has an undergraduate advising office with a faculty advising coordinator and at least one full-time staff adviser. Questions about advising policies and procedures should be directed to that office.

A student enrolled in the College of Fine Arts is required to meet with a designated adviser before registering for any semester or summer session. This meeting must take place during the official advising period, and the student's proposed schedule of courses must be approved by the adviser. Subsequent changes or corrections in the schedule must also have the adviser's approval.

Career Advising

Fine Arts Career Services, a division of the Office of the Dean, helps fine arts majors explore career options, plan for careers, and develop strategies for seeking jobs upon graduation. Career advising and planning services are also available from the University's Career Center in Jester Center.

The University makes no promise to secure employment for each graduate.

Education Career Services

Education Career Services provides job placement services in education-related occupations at the elementary school, secondary school, and college level. Candidates for teacher certification should register with Education Career Services at the beginning of their student-teaching semester. Additional information is published by Education Career Services.

Admission and Registration

Admission and readmission of all students to the University is the responsibility of the director of admissions. Information about admission to the University is given in General Information.

Within the College of Fine Arts, the departmental advising offices and dean's office provide assistance to students who plan to attend the University. For information about a particular academic area, consult the appropriate advising office (art and art history, music, theatre and dance). For general information and specific inquiries about degree requirements, consult the Office of the Dean (Student Affairs). Because of the variety of degree options available in the college, prospective students are encouraged to visit the campus and meet with an academic adviser. An appointment should be arranged in advance.

Special Admission Requirements in the College of Fine Arts

To major in any program in the College of Fine Arts, a student must be admitted to the University. He or she must also meet the following special requirements.

Department of Art and Art History

To major in the Department of Art and Art History, a student must have the approval of the Art and Art History Admissions Committee. Information about admission requirements, procedures, and deadlines is available from the undergraduate advising office in the department.

To major in design, a student must have the approval of the Design Admissions Committee. The required sequence of courses in design begins at the sophomore level. Students seeking to enter the design program should apply for admission to the University using the predesign application code.

School of Music

To major in music, a student must pass an audition conducted by the School of Music. At the discretion of the school, a student who fails an audition may be allowed to reaudition at a later date. Information about audition requirements, procedures, dates, and deadlines is available from the office of undergraduate studies in the School of Music.

Department of Theatre and Dance

Admission to programs in the Department of Theatre and Dance requires the approval of the Theatre and Dance Admissions Committee. Information about admission requirements, procedures, and deadlines is available from the office of undergraduate studies in the department.

Students Transferring from Another College or University

A student who begins study in the fine arts at another college should consult the transfer adviser in the departmental undergraduate advising office (art and art history, music, theatre and dance) before transferring to the University.

Transfer credit evaluation. Most credit accepted from another college or university will be specified by the Office of Admissions in terms of equivalent courses at the University of Texas at Austin. For some transferred courses (especially in the fine arts), credit will be accepted but no specific University equivalency assigned. If, for example, a student has completed twelve semester hours of transferable coursework in studio art at another school, the Office of Admissions may accept the work only as twelve semester hours of unspecified credit in art. The same will often be true for courses in theatre and dance and music.

Unspecified transfer credit outside the student's major will be evaluated by the Office of the Dean during the degree audit process described in this chapter. For unspecified transfer credit within the student's major, however, the student must seek a transfer evaluation from the designated adviser in art and art history, music, or theatre and dance. The adviser will identify courses in the major that are equivalent to University courses and forward his or her written recommendation to the Office of the Dean.

Transfer credit in music performance may not be counted toward a degree in music until the student has completed additional music performance coursework at the University.

Approvals Required

Before registering for any semester or summer session, a student in the College of Fine Arts must obtain written approval of the proposed schedule of courses from his or her designated adviser.

Prerequisites

The student must also meet the prerequisite for each course in which he or she enrolls. Prerequisites are given in the section Courses in chapters 2 through 15 and often appear in the Course Schedule. A student who registers for or adds a course without having met the prerequisite may be dropped from the course.

Fine Arts Registration Requirements

In addition to individual course prerequisites, there are special registration requirements for certain courses and areas of study in the College of Fine Arts.

School of Music

A student with transferred college credit in music theory must take a diagnostic examination in music theory. The results of the examination determine the level of music theory for which the student is advised to register.

Before beginning upper-division coursework in the major instrument, students majoring in music performance (including those pursuing the pedagogy option) must pass a School of Music full faculty jury examination in the major instrument and be admitted to upper-division standing in that instrument.

Before beginning upper-division coursework in the major area, a student majoring in music theory, composition, or music studies must obtain the approval of a designated committee composed of faculty members from that major.

Fulfillment of the music performance requirement signifies the attainment of a given level of artistic performance rather than the completion of a specific number of semester hours of credit. At the discretion of the faculty, a student may be required to repeat any course in music performance; in such a case, the course may be repeated for credit. No music performance requirement is fulfilled unless approval of the faculty has been obtained.

A student who receives a grade of D or F in any music performance course may not register for that course during the next semester or summer session until the requests of other students for such work have been met.

A student whose degree plan requires a piano proficiency of Music 210K must continue with group piano classes in consecutive semesters until the requirement is fulfilled. In exceptional cases, a student with permission from the group piano supervisor may enroll in private instruction Piano 201 until the Music 210K proficiency has been reached. The student may not enroll in private instruction Piano 202 until the Music 210K proficiency has been completed.

Department of Theatre and Dance

A student must enroll in an appropriate production or performance laboratory course, under the supervision of a Department of Theatre and Dance faculty member, in any semester he or she wishes to participate in a production sponsored by the department. A student majoring in the Department of Theatre and Dance must consult his or her adviser to determine the appropriate course. Nonmajors must consult the undergraduate studies office of the department.

Academic Policies and Procedures

Class Attendance and Absences

Regular and punctual attendance is required at all classes, laboratories, practice hours, and other activities for which the student is registered.

Absences from scheduled practice hours, rehearsals, and laboratories will be excused only for serious and substantiated reasons, and the final grade in the course may be lowered for unexcused absence. Absence from a theatre, dance, or music rehearsal, crew meeting, or performance may be deemed sufficient reason for giving the student a grade of F for the semester's work in the course concerned.

If an instructor indicates that a student has fallen below a passing grade in a course because of excessive absences, the dean, upon written recommendation of the instructor, may drop the student from that course and assign a grade of F for the semester.

Special Regulations of the College of Fine Arts

Studio art work. Students retain copyright to all two-dimensional, three-dimensional, time-based, and electronic art work created in the Department of Art and Art History; they grant a nonexclusive license to exhibit, display, reproduce, perform, or adapt these works at the discretion of the faculty. Works left in any departmental facility at the end of any semester or summer session may be removed or destroyed at the discretion of the faculty.

Music performances. A student majoring in the School of Music must consult his or her faculty adviser before participating in any public performance.

Honors

University Honors

The designation University Honors, awarded at the end of each long-session semester, gives official recognition and commendation to students whose grades for the semester indicate distinguished academic accomplishment. Both the quality and the quantity of work done are considered. Criteria for University Honors are given in chapter 1.

Graduation with University Honors

Students who, upon graduation, have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement are eligible to graduate with University Honors. Criteria for graduation with University Honors are given in chapter 1.

Special Honors in Art History

The Honors Program in Art History gives outstanding art history majors an opportunity to undertake an advanced research and writing project under the supervision of a faculty member. The notation "Special Honors in Art History" appears on the transcript of each graduate who completes the program.

Admission to the Program

The honors program is available to qualified art history majors pursuing the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Art. At the beginning of the senior year, an interested art history major should apply to the honors adviser for admission to the program. The criteria for admission are

Completion of at least ninety semester hours of college credit.

A University grade point average of at least 3.00.

A grade point average of at least 3.50 in all art history courses attempted, both at the University and elsewhere.

Completion of at least fifteen semester hours in art history. If the hours in art history were not earned at the University, admission is at the discretion of the honors adviser.

Approval of the honors adviser, who is responsible for maintaining the high standards for admission to and completion of the program.

Graduation with Special Honors in Art History

To complete the program, students must meet the following requirements by the end of the semester in which they graduate.

Graduation as an art history major.

Completion in residence at the University of at least sixty semester hours of coursework counted toward the degree.

A University grade point average of at least 3.00.

A grade point average of at least 3.50 in all art history courses taken at the University.

Completion of Art History 375 with a grade of at least B.

Approval of the honors adviser.

Completion of Art History 379H with a grade of A. This conference course, in which the student researches and writes a thesis, may not be counted toward the minimum number of hours of art history required for the degree.
To enroll in Art History 379H, the student must have the consent of the honors adviser. Consent is based on a written prospectus for the student's honors thesis and a letter of support from the art history faculty member who will supervise the thesis. The prospectus and the letter of support must be submitted to the honors adviser by the end of the semester preceding the semester in which the student plans to take Art History 379H. The student may develop the honors project and prepare the prospectus either in Art History 376 or in another art history course:

With the approval of the honors adviser, the student must complete the independent study course Art History 376 with an art history faculty member who agrees to supervise the student's work. Art History 376 may be counted toward the degree as elective art history credit. The student must earn a grade of at least B in order to progress to Art History 379H.

The student may also base the prospectus on a project undertaken in another art history course in which he or she earned a grade of at least B.

Submission of a departmental honors degree audit application to the Office of the Dean of the College of Fine Arts. This degree audit application may be submitted when the student is admitted to the honors program; it must be on file when the student applies for graduation. Failure to meet this requirement will preclude graduation with special honors in art history.

Certificate of Recognition in Music Performance

This certificate is offered to encourage undergraduate music students who are not music performance majors to pursue the intensive study of their instrument beyond the minimum requirements for their degree. The area of performance is indicated on the certificate.

Eligibility

To apply for a Certificate of Recognition in Music Performance, a student must be enrolled as an undergraduate music major pursuing the Bachelor of Music degree or the Bachelor of Arts in Music degree. He or she must be enrolled in principal instrument course 260.

Procedure

A student who meets the eligibility criteria must submit a petition to the appropriate music performance jury for permission to audition before the School of Music faculty—that is, to perform at a full faculty jury examination. This petition may be submitted during any semester in which the student is enrolled in principal instrument course 260. Ordinarily, the student may not audition for the full faculty before the conclusion of his or her second semester of principal instrument course 260. If the petition is approved, the student may audition at a full faculty jury examination.

If the student obtains approval at the full faculty jury examination, then he or she must present a certificate recital during the following academic year. The student may also enroll in Music 420R rather than principal instrument course 260 for the semester in which the certificate recital is to be given. A certificate recital must be equivalent to the junior recital required of a performance major and must offer a repertoire equivalent to that of an upper-division performance major. The recital is heard by the faculty of the student's principal instrument, who vote to approve or disapprove the granting of a Certificate of Recognition in Music Performance. If approval is given by the division faculty, the certificate is issued by the School of Music and signed by both the student's music performance instructor and the director of the school.

Student Organizations

University-wide organizations are described in chapter 1. In each of the units of the College of Fine Arts are various student organizations, including honor societies, professional associations, and service organizations. For information about current organizations and their eligibility requirements, contact the appropriate unit.

The Fine Arts Council is the official student organization of the college.